In the Arms of An Angel
by redheadfaerie
Summary: Two years after graduation the war is still going strong. There's only one more horcrux to uncover as attacks worsen. How will Hermione's chance encounter of a homeless Draco Malfoy in Muggle London change the tides of the war and her heart?
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER - - All I wanted for my birthday is the rights to Harry Potter. But alas, my birthday came and went, but no rights to Harry Potter. Or money from it. Perhaps next year.

A/N - - thanks go out to the wonderful BuffyXO who beta'd this story for me, and to myself, as I have cleaned it up even further now that I'm posting it again. Any remaining mistakes are mine, all mine, I claim them for myself.

Okay, so this is NOT a dark fic, but it was written before DH. It is HBP compliant and there is a war going on, so some not-so-nice things will happen, and there will be warnings at the beginning of each chapter to let you know about it and warnings surrounding the offending paragraphs so as to easily skip over it if you so choose, even though by my standards, none of it is so bad. My standards may not be yours, though. There are mentions of Hermione with someone other than Draco, but no details. This fic is finished, so there's no need to worry on that account.

Chapter 1 Snap Decisions

Hermione Granger bustled through the busy streets of Muggle London, bundled up to withstand the frigid January temperatures. The snow that was predicted had yet to arrive, but one look skyward left no doubt in anyone's mind that the clouds would burst, and sooner rather than later.

She was halfway home when her attention, along with that of many of the other passersby, was drawn to a homeless man staggering on the walk. A raspy voice was coming from his throat in a mantra: "Nobody's safe. There's no where to hide ..." A few people jostling by Hermione could be heard muttering under their breath about "Those drunken bums." Just as she was passing the man, unfortunately catching a whiff of his stink on the air, he stopped screaming. Instead he started talking quietly to himself about "Stupid Muggles."

At the word "Muggle," Hermione froze and turned to look at the man. He was wearing shoes with the sole of the right foot coming undone, his jeans were soiled and worn and he wore no coat, only a hooded sweatshirt that looked as though it used to be some middle shade of blue. Every exposed inch of skin was chapped to a dull pink from being exposed for a prolonged period of time, though the colour was hardly noticeable under the grime that coated his flesh. Her eyes moved up to his face, taking in his cracked and bloody lips. A long festering gash made its way from the left corner of his mouth to the bottom of his ear. But it was when she met his gaze that she was taken aback. His eyes were a dull grey, showing only hopelessness within their depths. From her peripheral vision, she finished taking in his stringy, silver-blond hair falling to the bottom of his shoulders, the colouring barely recognizable any longer.

"Malfoy?" she whispered to herself in shock. Everyone had believed him dead since his failure to kill the headmaster. His whole body stiffened as he read her lips. His eyes narrowed in suspicion as he tried to place the woman in front of him. She knew that he wouldn't recognize her, as she had made it a rule to never leave her townhouse alone without at least a couple of Glamour Charms. Today, her dirty blonde hair stuck out of her cap, falling over her winter jacket and scarf, and her blue eyes were covered with a pair of nondescript glasses. Just enough of a touch to change her appearance, but keep her looking quite average in every way so as to not draw attention from any wandering supporters of You-Know-Who.

In that thirty seconds the two were staring at each other, Hermione came to a decision. Unbeknownst to anyone at the moment, this decision would have far reaching repercussions; not only for these two, but also for many of those Hermione had gotten to know throughout the previous eight years, and even the entirety of the wizarding world. She walked up to the homeless man, stopping a foot or so away from him. "Draco?" she implored, her voice full with compassion.

"Who are you and what do you want? How do you know me? Because I certainly don't know you!" he snapped at her. They were attracting onlookers, though no where near as many as his spectacle of a few minutes past.

"Yes, Draco, you do know me, but I'm wearing glamours. It isn't safe to go out as oneself in today's climate. I am going to take you back to my house, so you can get a decent meal and a shower. I will help you with some of your obvious medical needs, but I will not tell you who I am until we are home." She told him all this in a soft and soothing voice to try and get his guard somewhat down to let her help him.

His eyes still contained suspicion as he glared down at her. "Why should I trust you?"

"I can't answer that right now, but instead let me ask you a question. I have no idea what you have been through over the last two and a half years, but, right now, you are faced with a choice. Trust me. Take me at my word, or you can stay here on the streets." As she finished this pronouncement, the sky finally opened up all at once in a haze of big, fat snowflakes.

"And when all of these promises have been fulfilled?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there, but at the very least come and stay for the night out of the cold."

He stood there for what seemed to be and eternity pondering the matter before he gave her one nod. "Lead the way."

He followed her to an empty alleyway a little ways away from where they were standing. "I live at 249 Silas Street. Concentrate on that address while I Apparate us there." She then held her breath and wrapped her arms around him before they disappeared.

When Draco next opened his eyes, he was located in a fair sized lounge that was decorated in an ocean theme, the walls a grey blue color and the carpeting and furniture just a few shades darker. The lamps and candles throughout the room looked to be made of seashells and the walls held magical paintings of waves that either lapped at beaches or crashed against cliffs.

After removing her jacket, scarf and hat she gestured for him to follow her. Instead he stayed where he was, stared at her, and asked, "Who are you?" She sighed and pulled out her wand, pointing it at herself saying the counter charms for the glamours. "Granger?" he inquired incredulously.

"Yes. Now if you follow me I'll show you the bathroom. Everything else can wait until later."

He stood there gaping at her for a moment before the Malfoy sneer made its presence known. "And why should I accept help from a lowly Mudblood like you?"

Hermione rolled her eyes at him before answering. "No one's making you. I just thought perhaps you could use a shower, change of clothes and a warm place to sleep. If not, you're free to go. Besides, it's not like it looked as though anyone else is willing to put up with you."

He sighed, showing the defeat that had been in his eyes ever since he recognized her. "Thank you." She lifted an eyebrow at his thanks, as it was not something she ever expected to hear from him, but she chalked it up to all the etiquette lessons he must have had as a child. Turning around, she led him out of the room and up the stairs to a hallway lined with closed doors. She opened up the last door on the right to a medium-sized bathroom.

"Towels are in that cupboard. Leave your clothes outside the door and I'll replace them with some of Harry's... you're a bit skinnier than him but they should do. Take your time; I'll be downstairs in the kitchen making dinner if you need anything." She could see that he was a bit miffed at having to wear something that belonged to Harry Potter, but he just nodded at her. She turned around and went across the hall to her room to change clothes and wash up after touching him in her own bathroom_._

As she made chicken noodle soup from her mother's secret recipe and toasted sandwiches, she thought about how her plans for at least the rest of the day, if not longer, had just drastically changed. She had been planning on making another batch of Dreamless Sleep for the Order, but now she was curious to find out where Draco had been, and what had happened to him. Though, she really did doubt that he would tell her and she had no intention on prying or bringing up the subject herself.

It was an hour after he had gone into the shower that Draco resurfaced in the entryway to the kitchen. He was leaning against the pole that separated the half-wall from the entrance with his arms crossed over his chest, awestruck at the sight of the girl that he had looked down upon from the moment he met her. She was swaying around in the kitchen with her eyes closed and singing along to a radio in the corner of the room. She would never be able to sell any records with her voice, but she could carry a tune. Even he could tell that she sounded better singing along to this than she would most other genres of music. She sang:

_"Spend all your time waiting  
For that second chance  
For a break that would make it okay  
There's always some reason  
To feel not good enough  
And it's hard at the end of the day  
I need some distraction  
Oh beautiful release  
Memories seep through my veins  
Let me be empty  
And weightless and maybe  
I'll find some peace tonight_

_In the arms of the angel  
Fly away from here  
From this dark cold hotel room  
And the endlessness that you fear  
You are pulled from the wreckage  
Of your silent reverie  
You're in the arms of the angel  
May you find some comfort here."_

As she was singing, she lifted her arms up to run her fingers through her long, sleek curls. Her black, baby doll tee with an emblem of "Orgy" across the chest rode up to show off her flat stomach and the silver lightening bolt belly button ring that fell to just above the ridge of her hip-hugging, faded blue jeans that flared out at the bottom and reached the floor since she was only wearing socks and needed the extra lift from shoes to keep them from dragging.

He watched her, and looked at her properly for the first time. No one would ever refer to her as breathtakingly beautiful, but she was far from ugly with her round chin and petite nose with a smattering of freckles. While he couldn't see her eyes at the moment, he remembered them from before he took his shower and they were by far her most outstanding feature, maybe her only outstanding feature. But that was beside the point. Her eyes were such a pure brown, there were no hints or traces of any other color within their depths; they were so full of life and an underlying determination. He shook his head to try and clear these thoughts of her. "Orgy, Hermione?" he drawled out in a voice of Malfoy-past.

She jumped at the sound and turned to face him. "They're a Muggle band. You shouldn't sneak up on people, you know. And did you just call me by my first name?"

"Ah, but that would take the fun out of it. What was that you were singing to?"

"Angel, by Sarah McLaughlin, but you haven't answered my question."

"Yes, I called you Hermione. It is your name, and I am staying in your house. It only seems appropriate."

She glanced away, nodding her head in agreement although she was embarrassed that he caught her singing. She usually only sang in private, not being overly confident in her abilities in the area. She motioned to the table she had just finished setting in invitation. As he sat down, she brought over a plate of toasted sandwiches and ladled some soup into each of their bowls before returning the pot to the stove. Draco ate ravenously and she wondered how long it had been since his last meal. She was amazed at what a good, hot, long shower could do for a person. While his skin still had that pinkish tinge to it, he was clean of all dirt and grime and his hair was back to its normal color. That in itself made such a huge difference. But that gash still looked pretty bad.

As soon as they were both done she cleared the table and poured the extra soup into a container and placed it in the fridge. Then she said, "Now let's see what we can do to fix you."

"How are you going to do that?"

His tone wasn't quite a sneer but she could tell that he was trying to demean her and coming up short. She just ignored the jibe and answered the question. "Seventh year I opted to not be Head Girl. Instead I took on an internship with Madame Pomfrey and learned the basics of healing and some specific spells. She thought I may need to know about those things, what with Harry being my friend. I also have a potions lab here so I can brew Healing Potions and such for the Order."

"You? Have a potions lab?" She nodded her head but when she didn't expand, he continued on. "Where did you get the money for all this, Hermione?"

Her face scrunched up as though it was a question she didn't want to think about, but she still told him. She knew if she didn't, he would keep hounding her about it, so she explained. "A couple of years ago my parents were killed. Between selling off their dentistry and the house, as well as the life insurance, and the investments I've made, I have quite a bit of money. I'd rather have my parents, though." The last sentence trailed off, and he could see the sadness in her face and realized that he didn't want to see her sad. He mentally slapped himself for going soft while stuck in the Muggle world. Sure, he was homeless there but at least people didn't actively try killing him. "But as I was saying, let's see what we can do for you," Hermione said as she came out of her stupor and led him back upstairs.

She opened the door to the room next to hers, revealing a makeshift infirmary. There were two hospital beds, bright lights, and one wall was shelved with potions and medical texts, wizard and Muggle alike. "Sit," she ordered.

He sat on the closest bed, his eyes taking in the room. He asked, "Why do you have an infirmary?"

"It comes in handy with Harry and Ron. And sometimes Remus as well."

"Why?"

"Because there's a war going on, if you haven't noticed." He glared at her in response but let her lean in to look at his face. She asked, "How did this happen?"

"I'd rather not talk about it." She just shrugged her shoulders in a manner that exuded uncaring as she went over to the shelves and found a particular jar.

"This is going to sting," she told him as she uncorked the bottle and poured some of the cream it contained into her palm. She re-corked it and put the bottle back down on the side table. Dabbing her index and middle fingers into the goo in her other palm, she brought the fingers up to massage it into the gash. He pulled away, wincing at the initial pain but let her continue with her work. When she had covered it with the ointment, she sat down on the other bed, crossing her legs in front of her. "Now we wait five or ten minutes for it to finish cleaning the wound properly and I can close it up. I have a potion you can use for the scar but I don't think it will go all the way away, what with how infected it got and how deep it is."

"I guess that's better than oozing puss all over my face." She gave him a look of disgust and leaned back against the bed. "So, when I'm all healed up, how about showing me that potions lab you were talking about?" he asked.

"Sure, I'll give you the full tour." When she had closed the wound up, she pulled out a vial of the scar potion along with another cream. "This one is for the scar. This other one, please apply it before you go to bed over anywhere that's raw from exposure. It won't heal your skin, but it'll significantly speed up the process."

"Why would you just happen to have a potion like that just hanging around?" he asked in disbelief.

"I don't happen to have any particular potions. That is one that I will now have to make a new batch of that comes in handy whenever Harry and Ron can stop by."

"Where are Scarhead and the Weasel, anyway?"

"On a mission for the Order."

"Any chance of you telling me what that mission is?"

"None, whatsoever."

"Fine. So, how about that tour?"

"Sure, though if you don't mind me asking, why are you being so … not an arse?"

"Hermione, I've been living on the streets for a very long time now. While you aren't the first person to show me kindness, you are the first one who knows who I am to do so. Rightfully, I would have expected you to hex me the second you realized who I am. If you are going to put me up in your house, heal me and feed me, being nice is the least I can do. Also, after being with Muggles for so long, as much as they still irk me, I don't hate them for any reason other than my father said to. I now have my own opinions on things rather than just spouting off whatever he indoctrinated me with."

"I'm happy to hear that," she responded with a smile and continued. "Well, not about the being on the streets, but everything else." He didn't reply but instead nodded his head in acknowledgement. "I didn't hex you because I know that you didn't want to hurt, never mind kill, Professor Dumbledore. I also know that you regretted letting in the other Death Eaters, especially Greyback."

To say that Draco was taken aback by this revelation would be an understatement. "How would you know that?"

"We have our sources. Though, our sources did think that you were dead."

"And who are these sources?"

"All in good time, my pretty."

"What?" he asked in confusion, the reference going over his head.

"Nothing. So, onto the tour." She showed him the entire house, and gave him a choice of the spare bedrooms. They were set up exactly the same, the only difference being that one was decorated in black and white, the other in blue and grey. He chose the black and white one, which she then told him was Harry's room when he was over. Downstairs was the lounge, where he had noticed seemed to be Crookshanks' favorite room, kitchen, potions room and her study that looked more like a library with every available inch of wall space being covered in bookshelves. Both of these rooms gave him the look of a kid in a candy shop, having been deprived of intellectual books and his favorite pass time of potion brewing for far too long. Once the tour was finished they both went to bed, exhausted from the long day. Or year, on Draco's part.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2Emotions and Orders

The next morning, Draco woke up after a nice, long sleep to the smell of breakfast cooking downstairs. When he arrived at the kitchen he found Hermione placing plates of bacon, eggs, biscuits and home fries on the table along with an array of condiments. She placed a Warming Charm on the food and started to dish up her plate. "It smells wonderful," he told her, causing her to jump and knock some of her eggs off of her plate.

She whirled around and glared at his smirking face. "What did I tell you about sneaking up on me?"

"Fun-Sucker," he accused as he came into the room and started filling his plate. She stuck her tongue out at him and cleaned up her fallen food before sitting down opposite him. When they were done eating and clearing up, they moved over to the potions lab where Draco helped Hermione with the Dreamless Sleep and a new batch of the cream she had given him the night before.

"Are you brewing the Wolfsbane Potion?" he asked, his voice impressed as he looked into a simmering cauldron off to the side.

"No," she said with a sigh. "I've made it a couple of times but that was only when the person who usually does it wasn't able to. For some reason he seems to think I'm incapable of such a complex potion." Her voice had gotten steadily colder as she glowered until she huffed before finishing her small tirade. "I mean, I successfully brewed Polyjuice Potion when I was thirteen, but oh, no. This is _way_ too hard for me, the git … sorry about that. He just annoys the bejesus out of me."

"Who?"

"You'll see him soon enough. I believe he's coming over after tonight's Order meeting to work on it, assuming nothing comes up. Speaking of, is it okay if I tell them you're alive?"

Draco looked at her hesitantly. "Will they all then feel obliged to come over here and interrogate me on my Death Eater ways?"

"Your Death Eater ways? You really have been in the Muggle world too long." She gave him a smile full of checked laughter before she turned more serious. "Including you and me, there are only eight people who can gain entrance here. But two of them may want to talk to you; though, you don't have to tell them anything you don't want to."

"Only eight?"

"Fidelius Charm."

"But if you told me your address, then that would make you your own secret keeper. You do realize that is highly irregular."

"Yes, well. I decided that if someone captured me they would then have no reason for the secret any longer because they'd already have me. It's not like there's anything of interest here that they know about anyway. Plus, this way I know that my secret keeper isn't blabbing it any chance they get."

"Two questions. That they know about? And why would a secret keeper just go around telling people the secret; as the name says, they're generally trustworthy with secrets."

"Yes, that they know about. As for going around telling people the secret, that's how Harry's parents were killed. I feel completely justified in my paranoia. Now, may I tell the Order?" she asked, returning to the original topic.

"Yes, I suppose. But only if you have them swear an Oath not to tell anyone first. I don't need the trouble that would come with the Death Eaters finding out."

She raised her eyebrow at him but agreed to his stipulation. "If you want people to think you're dead, why on earth were you standing in the middle of London screaming about not being able to hide?"

He looked down at the floor. If Hermione wasn't aware that it was an emotion that Malfoy's didn't feel, never mind show, she would have thought him to be ashamed. "Temporary insanity, I guess. Earlier in the day I had seen a couple of Death Eaters and had the sudden urge to make the Muggles realize they weren't safe. This is despite the fact that they should already realize it, what with all the brutal or 'unexplainable' deaths that have been going around in their media. Obviously, though, I couldn't tell them why."

She tilted her head and gave him a contemplative look. "It was really stupid of you, but I'm glad they didn't catch you. Though, I wouldn't have been surprised if you were arrested for disorderly conduct or something of the like. You really were causing quite a scene. Not to mention the fact that you just looked like a drunken, raving bum."

"Thanks," he said rather bitterly at her comment, "I realize that _now_. Like I said -- temporary insanity."

It took most of the morning to finish the potions. Their time was filled with friendly banter, always steering clear of the subjects that one or the other didn't want to talk about. It turned out that during the time Draco was homeless in the Muggle world, he had grown an affection for television, particularly comedy, as he already had enough drama going on in his own life, though what the drama was he wouldn't say. After they had finished the potions, she showed him her telly in the lounge; he hadn't noticed it before because it was hidden away in a cabinet.

When she made lunch he decided to help her out, surprising her with his abilities in a Muggle-style kitchen. Or any kitchen, for that matter, considering she rightly assumed that his time growing up at Malfoy Manor meant that the house-elves did all the cooking. She was happy knowing she wouldn't have to worry about him being able to feed himself while she was gone.

After lunch Hermione retired to her library, and shortly after Draco joined her with a book that had caught his eye in the potions room. She was in the middle of a sentence, about the different type of snakes native to Albania, when she suddenly had a thought and put the book down to look at Draco. It took him a minute to realize that she was staring at him, but when he did he gave her a look that said 'what are you looking at' while his mouth asked one word. "Yes?"

"Draco, do you have your wand? I mean, I haven't seen you with it, and I was just wondering."

"No. It broke."

She gave him a look of extreme sadness; she could only imagine what it would feel like to no longer have her own wand. "In that case, we'll have to get you a new one." She tipped her head, looking at him. "Some new clothes, too."

"Hermione, you may not have noticed, but Ollivander is dead. Where would I get a wand?"

She gasped at his pronouncement. "You know for sure that he's dead."

"Ummm, yeah. He's definitely dead." He visibly winced at the memory of that day, causing Hermione to let it go, instead of ask how he knew.

"There are other wand makers, you know. Maybe not quite the quality, but still some who are really good. We can go to Smith in New York. Get you some clothes there, too."

"No."

"No?"

"NO."

"Why not?"

"Because, Hermione. I'm not going to have you buy me anything. You're already doing too much for me, as it is."

Hermione rolled her eyes at him. "Draco, I'm not doing anything that any other self respecting person wouldn't. You are a good person. But more importantly, you are a wizard, and I know you must really miss your wand. Plus, I'm sure you don't want to wear Harry's clothes any more than you have to."

"Hermione, you don't know me well enough to say those things. I'm not a good person. I've done some really terrible things. I don't deserve a wand." By the end of his first sentence he had leaned forward to rest his head in his hands in an attempt to hide the single teardrop that fell from his eyes.

It didn't work and Hermione knelt down on the floor in front of him. She softly wiped the tear away with her hand and leaned over to look into his eyes, leaving her hand on his face. "You may have done terrible things, Draco, but obviously you didn't want to. And that makes you a good person, whether you believe it or not."

He unconsciously leaned into her hand. He had the sudden urge to kiss her, but shook that thought out of his head and settled for rubbing his cracked lips over the hand that he had taken away from his face, leaving her hand in his. "Just because I didn't want to do some of those things doesn't change the fact that I did do them, and there's nothing I can do to undo them. They'll always be with me and I'll always know that I have the ability to cause great harm."

"Oh, Draco," she cooed as she moved up to sit in his lap and held him close to her in a tight hug, rubbing his back. No longer able to hold back, he burst into tears, sobbing into her shoulder. Through her shock she continued rubbing his back and whispered nonsense words in to his ear to soothe him.

It was a full twenty minutes later before he had cried himself out. He leaned back against the couch and looked up to the ceiling. "I'm sorry," he told her in a raw voice.

"Don't be," she responded, still in his lap.

"I've never cried in front of someone before." It was more of a whispered admission than anything.

"Not even your parents?" He just shook his head in response. She repeated her earlier actions and wiped away his tears, only this time she also leaned forward and kissed away the remaining ones from his eyes. "Then I'm happy you trust me so much."

He looked up into her caring face. He started to say something, but stopped himself and went in a completely different direction. "Don't you have an Order meeting to get to?"

She looked at her watch and her eyes widened at the time. "Shit. I was supposed to be there five minutes ago." She paused for a moment before continuing, "I don't want to leave you right now, though."

He lifted his hand up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "It's okay, Hermione. I'll be fine. I'll probably do some more reading and have some dinner."

"You sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Okay. But I'm taking you shopping tomorrow." She got up from his lap, leaving the warmth of his body and went to the lounge, grabbing her jacket before Apparating to outside Grimmauld Place.

As soon as she walked through the door she was accosted and dragged to the kitchen. "Hermione, we were getting worried! It's not like you to be late," said Molly as she gave the girl a warm hug.

"Oh, I'm sorry to worry you. I was unexpectedly detained," she explained.

"That's perfectly alright, Hermione. Now, let's start this meeting," Remus said. He had been the leader of the Order ever since Dumbledore's death. "Any Death Eater news, Severus?"

The man in question sneered at the phrase used. "Nothing more than the usual. Though, the Dark Lord is getting aggravated at not knowing where Potter is."

At this sentence, everyone in the room turned to look at Hermione. "What?" she asked, as though she wasn't aware of exactly what they wanted.

"You do know where Harry and Ron are, don't you?" asked Remus.

"The general vicinity, yes."

"Why do they have to leave on these treks? They could be seriously hurt and we'd never even know," lamented Molly.

"They have to go because it's the only way to kill Voldemor." She rolled her eyes at those who flinched at the name. She would have thought that after so many years of them hearing it out of her and Harry's mouths would lessen the sting, but apparently not. "We've been over all of this before, and just because everyone wants more specific answers is no reason for me to give them," she addressed the group before reaching across the table to take Molly's hand in hers.

"You know that as soon as either of them is in any mortal danger I will know and Apparate to them with my medical bag. I'm not going to lie and say that they are perfectly safe, but they do know how to take care of themselves. Molly, that's something you taught them." The older woman smiled over to Hermione. She already knew everything the girl had said; she just needed to be reassured about the safety of her youngest son and her surrogate son every now and then.

"When is the last time you heard from them?" asked Tonks.

"Two and a half weeks ago."

Soon enough they went on to other topics, mostly about how best to try and protect certain people that they thought might become targets soon for one reason or another. When they were finished with the planned topics, Remus opened up the floor for anything that may have come up. Hermione looked up and down the table to see if anyone else had something to add. When it didn't seem so, she cleared her throat.

"Yes, Hermione?"

She sucked in a deep breath to steady her nerves, as she had no idea what would happen when she finished her sentence. "Before I tell anyone this news, I have promised to get an Oath of Silence from everyone in this room." At this request, some of the Order members were up in arms about the need for an oath. After all, what if it was something vitally important and they felt they had to say something. Others were ready the moment it was requested. After all, Hermione Granger would not ask such a thing if it were not important.

"If you do not want to take an Oath, you do not have to. I just ask that you leave the room while we speak on this topic." Finally, the members all took an Oath, barring two, who were sent to the lounge, and Silencing and Imperturbable Charms were put on the room. "Draco Malfoy is alive."

One could have heard a pin drop from a mile away, and then everyone in the room started talking and asking questions at once. Snape was the only one not saying anything. Instead he was staring at her, his head slightly cocked as if considering her.

Remus stood up, effectively silencing the group. "Now, Hermione. Are you sure about this?"

"If I weren't I wouldn't have said anything."

"Where did you see him?"

"In Muggle London. He was making a scene and everyone was steering clear of him but when I passed him he stopped yelling and started to mutter something about Muggles. That's when I really looked at him, and it was him. It took a second to recognize him since he was really dirty, he was hurt and it looked as though he'd been homeless for quite some time."

"Did you speak to him?"

"Yes."

"What did he say?"

"Nothing of importance. He didn't want to trust me because he didn't recognize me, but eventually he did and now he's staying at my house."

"Draco Malfoy is staying at your house!" screeched Molly.

"Yes, he is, and if you had seen him first he would be at your house instead. You know as well as I do that he didn't want to kill Dumbledore. Besides, it's not like he has a wand. Which reminds me, Kingsley, do you think you would be able to arrange a portkey for me to go to New York tomorrow to buy him some clothes and a new wand?"

"Ummm, I'm not sure I can. The person in charge of the Portkey and Floo office is a suspected Death Eater."

"Oh," she said, slightly glum. "I guess I'll just have to find another way."

"Hermione, you should not buy him a wand, you do not know what he'll do with it. He should be brought here so we can question him."

"I'm sorry, Moody, but that is not going to happen. He will get a new wand because he is a wizard and he deserves his wand and I trust him with it. I'm not going to bring him here. I wouldn't have even told you about him if he hadn't given me the go-ahead. I told him that there might be a couple members from the Order who will come home with me, and that would be Remus and Severus, but I also told him that he doesn't have to answer any question that he doesn't to."

"You shouldn't go about making promises that you can't keep, girly. Especially to prisoners."

Hermione stood up swiftly, causing her chair to fall back behind her. She slammed her hands onto the table as she stared down the seasoned auror. "Alastor Moody, Draco is not a prisoner. He is a guest in my home and should be treated as such. Also keep in mind that he is in i_my_/i house. If I say that he doesn't have to spill his guts then he doesn't, and there is nothing you can do about it. And I am not going to stand here and let you berate me for not doing things the way you would, old man."

With that, she stormed out of the house, leaving her jacket, and Apparated back to her home. It took a full three minutes for the people still in the kitchen to get over the shock of what had just happened. They had never seen anyone stand up to Moody in such a manner before, and most certainly not over a defunct Death Eater. Snape was the first one to respond, with a full belly laugh, scaring the others even more as they had never seen him smile before, let alone laugh. Soon enough the meeting was closed and Remus and Snape left to go see the blond young man for themselves.

~~~oOo~~~

*I don't care if this is or isn't an English breakfast. It (truly by coincidence) happens to be what I order every time I go to Bickford's and is quite a yummy meal. Nothing that I ever speak of will involve sausages because they're disgusting; the smell and the way their nasty flavour taints everything they touch. Ok. Sorry about that little tangent.

I know that Draco seems a little ooc in this chapter, crying with her and all, but its the first time he's been able to let go and feel anything rather than just cope with what's going on around him in a very, very long time.

But then again, I just reread this entire fic last night, and yeah. He's kinda ooc the whole time. And so is Snape to a point. But I wrote this like two years ago, so.


	3. Chapter 3

***Warning*** This chapter has dark themes and acts. Rape is mentioned, but not detailed and there are a few character deaths in the recounting of Draco's story and I will warn you that I cried while writing it. Also, the wonderful beta BuffyXO says that she cried as well.

Chapter 3Draco's Story

Hermione Apparated into her lounge and let out a scream of rage. "WHO THE FUCK DOES HE THINK HE IS – GODDAMNED SELF-RIGHTEOUS BASTARD!" She then let out another scream, but this time it came out more like an extremely loud squeal. Draco had run out from the library to see what was wrong, only to find her standing in the middle of the room, seemingly having a hissy fit.

"Hermione, are you alright?" he asked her as he took each of her arms into his hands.

She took a deep breath before looking up at his face. "Yes. He just makes me so mad, thinking he knows everything about everything."

"Who?"

"Moody."

"Ahhh ..." He'd heard how the Moody who changed him into a ferret was really Barty Crouch, Jr.; but he'd also heard tons of stories of the real Moody from his father and some of the other Death Eaters. The man might be crazy, but he wasn't someone that Draco wanted to deal with. "What did he do to get you so upset?"

"He, umm, told me that you shouldn't be allowed a wand, that I should bring you to headquarters so he could question you and that I shouldn't go around making promises I couldn't keep, especially to prisoners." She said the last word with a sneer on her face as though the very word itself left an unwanted aftertaste in her mouth.

Before Draco could respond, there was the sound of two pops of Apparition and the next thing he knew Hermione was pushed into his arms, Remus standing behind her and Severus off to the side. Hermione looked up at Draco, her eyes wide, to find that he had a similarly shocked look on his face, only he was looking at his Godfather. She pulled away from him and smoothed out her shirt after extricating her waist from his arms, where he had grabbed a hold of her so she wouldn't fall before, bringing his attention back to her at the loss of her body.

He looked back up to the former potions professor who had an odd look on his face as he watched the two interact. A grin spread over the young man's face, pulling at the scar across his cheek as he stalked over and wrapped his arms around Severus into a big bear hug. Neither Hermione nor Remus were surprised to see Snape hug Draco back, as both had been able to see the pain in his eyes when he had delivered the news that Draco was dead over two years ago.

When Severus pulled away, the picture of stoicism, he spoke to his Godson. "I need an hour to tend to the Wolfsbane, and then I expect a full report on where you have been." He whirled around with his trademark billowing robes and stalked to the potions lab, closing the door behind him.

Draco turned to Remus. "Hello, Mister Lupin. I assume that you can wait until Severus is back before questioning me?"

"It's Remus, and yes, I think it can wait."

Before any more awkward conversation could occur, Hermione butted in. "Draco, I don't know if you've eaten while I was gone, but I haven't and I'm sure that Remus and Severus could do with a nice meal, so I think I'll be headed to the kitchen."

The next hour was spent with Hermione and Draco cooking a nice stuffed pepper soup and Italian bread while keeping up a light conversation with Remus, who told Draco all about how Hermione stood up to Moody and about how after she left Severus started laughing. Hermione was shocked, as she had never heard the man laugh either, but it didn't seem to surprise Draco too much. He knew what could set off his Godfather, and a tiny witch like Hermione intimidating a man like Moody was definitely one of those things, though he had the feeling that the "old man" comment is what really set him off. He was wondering when Severus had changed sides, as he most certainly had been a Death Eater the last time he had seen him, but felt that the man in question deserved the respect to be asked to his face rather than behind his back to these two.

When Severus entered into the kitchen, it was to find Draco setting the table while Hermione pulled the bread out of the oven. He sat down next to Remus in wonderment at the sight of Draco doing something that he had always considered to be house-elf work. One look at Severus and they, as the people who knew him best in the world, could tell that he had spent some of his time in the potions lab crying at the rediscovery of his Godson, but no one said anything, though out of respect or fear, it was hard to tell.

After everyone had eaten their fill, they went to the lounge and sat down on the comfortable sofas, Hermione and Draco on one and Severus and Remus each in an overstuffed chair. They each held a fine scotch in their hand with the bottle on the table between them. Draco drank down the cup in one and poured himself another glass while everyone else watched.

"Please, only interrupt if you have to. I can tell all of you that this is going to be hard for me, but you all deserve to know where I've been and what I've been doing. Remus, you need to know because Hermione tells me that you're the leader of the Order and when Potter kills the Great Bastard I'll probably need all the help I can get in not going to Azkaban. Severus, you deserve to know because you are my Godfather and have cared for me more than my natural father ever did. Hermione, well, there are a few reasons you deserve to know, and I hope you don't go back to hating me after you hear them."

Hermione tried to protest that she wouldn't hate him no matter what he had to say but he put his hand up to stop her.

Draco sat back in his seat, his glass still firmly in hand. "I suppose the story starts when Father was sent to Azkaban. About half of those involved with that stupidity at the Ministry were Inner Circle, including Father. When Lord Bastard figured out that there was no chance of his people getting out of there, let's just say he was pissed off. He was losing some of his most influential supporters and he wanted something in return. And he wanted to punish father, though I didn't realize it at the time. So he decided that I was going to take my father's place in his ranks, though most definitely not as part of his Inner Circle."

He took a sip as he continued, practically cocooned in the softness of the sofa and its many pillows. "I was happy to; I was looking forward to it. I had thought that I wouldn't have the privilege to join his ranks until after leaving Hogwarts, and to be initiated in before even sixth year, I just felt honoured." At this point, Draco's face was full of disgust for himself and he looked into his drink, but did not take another sip. "It was nothing like I expected. Father always thought he was raising me to be, well, not a 'perfect little Death Eater' as some think, since he really had believed him to be dead, but, he wanted me to not care. I tried to act how he wanted on the front, but I could never be who he wanted me to be and I was a big disappointment to him. He never hurt me physically or anything, but he was just so ... cold towards me. When the Bastard Extraordinaire came back, he started me on the Death Eater training, showing me how to use the Unforgivables and everything, but he never said that they were used practically with glee at every possible opportunity, just to make people suffer. Since the Dark Bastard had decided that I was going to be a Death Eater either way, I wasn't forced to kill anyone or anything before I was marked like some of the others, who still had to prove their loyalty. That was one thing he did not question about me; my loyalty to him."

"Through the summer he sent me on a couple of small raids. It was … not good. I didn't understand why we were killing pureblood wizards and witches, never mind their children; especially since they weren't all blood traitors. Some of them just had the misfortune of being in a position that he wanted to fill with his own people rather than seeing if they would even be willing to join him to begin with. I didn't kill anyone, but I had to do something, even though it sickened me. If I didn't, the other Death Eaters who were with me would tell him that I couldn't do it, and then I would be in trouble. So I cast the Crucio on a couple of the children as they were being raped. I just hoped that it would take their minds away from everything else before they died."

Silent tears were slipping down his face but he continued, undeterred. "Aunt Bella didn't trust you, Severus. Looking at you now, I guess she was right. So she taught me Occlumency, knowing that I was going to have to deal with you at school. It came easy to me, compartmentalizing all my thoughts and feelings. I had always done so in Father's presence subconsciously and so when I did it on purpose I had no trouble with it at all. It was almost right away, though, that I was given my task. I thought that it meant that he believed in me and I was almost … ecstatic, I guess. I mean, if he didn't even trust Severus with such a mission, when obviously he could have done it anytime, then I must be favoured. I would be allowed to fix what happened when Father was captured without the prophecy. I sat in Father's study for hours on end trying to decide how to do it. When I figured what to do I went out to set everything up. I'm not going to explain everything that happened over the year, as I'm sure you already know about it. Suffice it to say that Severus tried to help me out and talk to me, but I thought that he was just trying to steal my glory. Not to mention that the Great Bastard had said that I had to do it all by myself or he would kill Mother and Father. As much as I don't really care for him, I still didn't want Father to die. Mother, on the other hand, was the only person in my life to consistently show me that she loved me, whether it be through a hug or just small things, she made sure I knew that she loved me. I was her world; nothing mattered more to her than I did."

"When it was finally time, I couldn't do it; I just couldn't kill him. He even offered to help me and my family get away from the Supreme Bastard. Then the Death Eaters I had let in got through the fighting. I was really surprised by how fast you all got there, by the way. At the time, it pissed me off, but now I'm rather impressed and I wouldn't mind hearing about how that came to be at some point. Severus, you came up and Dumbledore was pleading with you, but he wanted you to kill him, didn't he? Then you did it. And he was dead. And it wasn't by my hand and I was scared shitless. When we got off of the schools' grounds, Severus Apparated me to his house before he went to see the Bastard. Soon after I felt my mark burn and I knew I was being summoned and I went, even though Severus had told me not to."

Draco drank down the rest of his glass and took a deep breath to prepare for the next part. Hermione refilled his glass and he gave her a wan smile before he told them about the worst experience in the entirety of his life. "Almost as soon as I arrived I was taken and put into a cell in the dungeon. Mother was put in my cell with me shortly after that, but we were chained against opposite walls and Silencing Charms were placed on us so we couldn't talk to each other. We were kept there for close to three months. We were fed once a day and beaten a lot more than that. Every single day of those three months I was forced to watch as Mother was raped in every way possible." He barely choked out the last sentence and Hermione moved closer to him and pulled him to her, and for the second time that day he cried on her shoulder with her arms wrapped around him.

Remus and Severus looked decidedly uncomfortable with the situation, mixing in with the shock of what Draco had been through that Remus felt, and the sad resignation of Severus, who had already known this all but had never seen or heard it first hand. Soon enough Draco had calmed down slightly and pulled away from Hermione whispering a soft apology in her ear. She just smiled sadly at him but made no move to distance herself from him.

He once again sat back into the sofa, looking to the ceiling, the fingers on his right hand entwined with those of Hermione's left. She gave his hand a gentle squeeze in support when he finally was composed enough to restart his tale. "Eventually, we were emaciated and broken, though not just physically. Then the last day came. They told us it was our last day. Five of them took their turns with Mother; not once had I been touched sexually. They just wanted me to watch. When they were finished, they gave me my wand, though I was at the end of all five of theirs. They gave me my voice back and told me to kill her. I looked down into her face and she nodded to me. She wanted to die. She wanted me to do it. So I lifted up my wand, built up all of the hatred I could feel towards those other men that were in the room with us, and spoke the curse. My voice was hoarse with disuse, but I struck true and the only person who has ever loved me died by my hands."

Hermione lifted up their joined hands and gently placed a kiss on each of his fingers, her own salty tears falling onto the raw skin on the back of his hand. "After, they snapped my wand and beat me until I was unconscious. My last thought was one of happiness that I would get to be back with Mother forever, and all of the pain and the beatings and rapes were over. When I woke back up, I was in a Muggle hospital. Apparently they had left me for dead in a Muggle park. A couple of Muggles found me while on their nightly walk and called the ambulance. I was stuck in the hospital for almost two months with all the damage that had been done to me, what with how much slower Muggle healing is compared to magical healing. Though, I will admit that they have some nice painkillers; I barely felt anything."

"The couple who had found me came to visit me to see how I was doing. When they saw what kind of mental state I was in, coupled with the fact that I had no where to live, they came to visit me at least two or three times a week, and when I was released they took me home with them. I stayed in their daughter's room; she was away at boarding school. They treated me as if I was their own flesh and blood, despite the fact that they barely knew me. It was the third week that I was with them that they told me they knew I was a wizard. When I asked how they figured it out, they told me that their daughter was a witch and that they had a small amount of knowledge of our world; though I had figured that out already since her picture was all over the house. She really was a cute baby. Then they told me that I had done an overall bad job at hiding my general curiosity of lots of small little things that Muggles took for granted, like a toaster, though I was no where near to the point of Arthur Weasley's odd fascination with Muggles." His voice was indignant with the last, daring them to make a remark.

Hermione was staring at him avidly and he knew that she was working out what he was saying. "I was there for almost six months. We got to know each other, and I realized how my father had tainted my thoughts towards Muggles, because these people were some of the most kind-hearted, nicest, loving people I had ever met and I grew to care for them. Then the Death Eaters came while we were asleep one night. I didn't wake up right away, and by the time I did there was nothing I could do. They were already in the house. I hid behind the door at first, planning on opening it up to try and sneak to their room and help get them away. Then I heard their bedroom door open. Richard screamed for them to get out of his house. The next thing I heard was two Death Eaters casting the Killing Curse." Draco turned to look directly into Hermione's eyes. "They didn't suffer; they weren't hurt beforehand. It was a quick death. I knew they were about to find me, so I Apparated away."

Hermione, by this time, could no longer control her sobbing. Draco pulled her onto his lap and rocked her gently. By the looks on the two former professors' faces they had yet to work it out. "I'm so sorry, Hermione. There was nothing I could do for them," he told her softly as he pushed her hair back behind her ear.

"A quick death?" she asked through hiccups.

"A quick death," he reaffirmed.

"Thank heaven for small favors," she whispered, clinging onto his neck with tears still streaming down her face. "Is this why you thought I would hate you?"

Draco nodded his response and before she could disabuse him of the notion, Remus put three and four together. "The Muggles who took you in were Hermione's parents?" he asked, only to receive a nod in his direction from the young man whose only focus was the woman in his arms.

Hermione pulled Draco's face so that his nose was practically touching hers and she was looking directly into his eyes. "Draco Malfoy, I could never hate you for that. If anything it makes me like you more." She continued through her sniffles when he gave her an incredulous look. "My parents always wanted more children, but they couldn't have them. I was like their little miracle baby. Then, when I found out that I was a witch, they were very supportive, and very proud, but I was taken away from them to go to Hogwarts. Without me there, they were lonely. I know that they missed me very much while I was away and the older I got the less time I spent with them, and I know that it hurt them that I was moving away from them, even if I didn't see it that way. I'm just glad that they spent their last months with someone that they could care about and fuss over just like they always did with me. I'm sure you made them very happy." By the time she was finished both Remus and Severus had tears in their eyes as well, though Severus was much better at hiding it.

"Hermione Granger, you are an amazing person," he told her, lightly kissing her forehead.

"So are you, Draco Malfoy," she whispered back before she settled herself back on his lap with her head resting on his chest and his arms tightly wrapped around her.

Draco could see that the two older men in the room were uncomfortable and feeling like they were interrupting a private moment, and so he decided to continue on with his story. "I ended up Apparating to the park where I was first found and quickly got into the shadows. I didn't stay in that town for long; I didn't stay in any town for long, preferring cities where there were a lot more people to blend in with. With the upbringing that I had, I didn't have any useful skills that I could use to my advantage to find work, and apparently no one will hire you without experience or a birth certificate or any form of identification, and not necessarily in that order. I ran a few messages for some people but it didn't take long to see that it wasn't really anything that I wanted to get involved with. Eventually, the work stopped and I became homeless." He looked down to Hermione, whose breathing was now coming in slow, even breaths, having cried herself to sleep.

"There's not really much more to it. I started staying in homeless shelters. There were a couple of groups who tried to get me jobs, but it never worked out. I claimed that the hospital I was born at had had a fire, and all of the records of my birth had been destroyed. I'm not too sure if they believed it, but they never said anything against me. It went on like that for a long time, and then yesterday I saw a couple of Death Eaters in Muggle London. They didn't recognize me, but I got scared. I ended up causing a scene a few hours later and that's how Hermione ran into me. Right on the spot, she decided that I was going to come home with her. Wouldn't take no for an answer. She's a lot like her parents that way. She's a lot like her parents in a lot of ways ..." his voice drifted off, full of emotion as he played with her hair.

He looked up to the two men on either side of the couch. "And that's what happened."

The three men made some small talk before Remus and Severus excused themselves and left Draco with a sleeping Hermione in his lap. He stood up and carried her up the stairs into her bedroom. It was the first time he had been in it, her having just pointed it out during the tour the night before. It looked like an ice castle, the entire room done in soft blues, purples and silvers right on down to the paint on the furniture and the cat bed for Crookshanks. He placed her in her bed and pulled off her shoes before pulling the covers up. Just as he was about to leave, she opened her eyes. "Please don't go," she said quietly.

He turned around and looked at her pleading eyes. He walked over next to the bed and crouched down so he was at eye level with her. "How about this, I'll go to my room and put on some of Potter's pajamas, you put on some of your own, brush your teeth and get ready for bed, and I'll be back in ten minutes?"

"Okay," she breathed. Ten minutes later they were snuggled up together in her bed, each feeling safe so close to the other as they drifted off to sleep, exhausted from such a long and tiring day.

* I just reread the chapter where they are taught how to Apparate and there is not one mention of the use of a wand so I am going under the suspicion that this is wandless magic as it requires so much concentration on so many other factors to have to add in a wand movement or anything.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4Rivals Old and New

The next morning, Hermione woke up to find a sleeping Draco curled up against her, his arm draped over her side, his hand hanging loosely above her stomach, and his impressive morning wood pressed against her backside. She liked the feeling of safety that his being there gave her; she could count on one hand the amount of times she'd woken up with a man in her bed this way and it always made her content, whether there had been sex involved or not.

She gingerly crept away, careful not to wake him up before going to her bathroom to get ready for the day. When she came out half an hour later, a towel wrapped around her body and another around her hair, it was to find Draco awake and staring at the ceiling. "Hey," she said as she picked up her wand to place a Sticking Charm to the towel on her body.

"Hey," he responded as he turned to watch her bend over and rub the second towel all over her hair. When it was mostly dry but still damp, she brushed it out and liberally applied an anti-frizz serum from the root to the tip of her hair. Once that was done, she pulled out a bottle of frizz-controlling hair spray for curly hair that left no trace of being there, other than the lack of frizz. When she finished with that, she brought the towel to her hair once more to dry away the excess product and put it all up in a loose bun.

"That's a lot of effort to put into your hair," Draco remarked with a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

She turned around to mock-glare as she answered, "So you're telling me that Draco Malfoy has never spent any amount of time primping his hair?"

"Not for at least a couple of years," he told her in all seriousness.

She rolled her eyes at him. "That would be about when I started."

"Do you make it a habit of wearing jewelry in the shower?"

"What? Oh, yes," she answered as she touched the pendant of a lion that fell from her neck. "I've Charmed this necklace to never fall off of my neck or allow anyone to take it off."

"The Gryffindor lion means that much to you, Hermione?" he asked with a slight sneer, his dislike for the house having never totally left him.

"No, the Charms that I put on it mean that much to me." Draco gave her a confused look, so she told him the rest after a deep sigh. "Ron and Harry each have a similar chain and an identical pendant. Each pendant is Charmed so that if one of us is in mortal danger the pendant's of the other two of us will heat up to warn us, and we can Apparate directly to whichever one of us is in trouble."

"Really? That's some pretty impressive magic, Hermione. Have you needed them before?"

"Yes, we have," she answered quietly as she turned to rummage through her wardrobe to find some clothes for the day.

Draco had the urge to go to her and hold on to her and kiss the expanse of her bare neck and shoulders to comfort her, but he didn't give in to it, the state of the lower half of his body making him not want to leave the relative safety of the blankets. Also, he wasn't sure if she would welcome such a bold move.

When she had decided what to wear, she placed the clothes on the chair in front of her vanity and flopped on the bottom of her bed as he mentally cursed the Sticking Charm that kept the towel closed. She looked up the bed at him, a sly smile creeping over her face. "You know, Draco, you can't get showered and ready for a day of shopping by sitting in my bed all day."

He gave her a calculating look before deciding that she knew exactly why he had yet to leave the bed. He replied, "I never agreed to this shopping you speak of. But if I were to go with you, how would we be getting there?"

"Portkey... the entire Floo Network is being monitored closely, and I don't think I can Apparate all the way to America."

"But if the Floo is being monitored, wouldn't portkeys be as well?"

"I never said that it would be a legal portkey."

"What! No, Hermione, I am not going to let you create an illegal portkey so I can get some new clothes."

"And a wand."

"Or a wand." She looked up to him, her eyes wide and her lower lip trembling. "Hermione, I said no."

She scrunched up her face at him and he couldn't help but think how adorable she was. "But Draaaaacooo," she whined.

He immediately covered his ears. "Stop it right now, Hermione. You're giving me horrible flashbacks to Pansy."

In an instant her face went rigid and she glared at him. "Don't you i_ever_/icompare me to that bitch," she told him, her voice low and menacing.

He looked at her shocked for a moment, having not expected such a violent reaction, c before he decided modesty be damned and crawled down the bed to where she was still laying down on her back. He sat on her upper thighs where the towel ended, his still hard length tenting the pajamas he was wearing. He leaned onto one hand, resting next to her right shoulder while his left hand caressed her face. "I'm sorry if I said something wrong, I was just kidding," he told her.

She turned her face away from his touch. He rested his forehead on the side of her face, his breath tickling her ear. "Come on, Hermione. I didn't mean anything by it."

"Draco, there are things that have happened since you've been gone, and not many of them are good. When everyone thought you died, Pansy went kind of crazy. She blamed you for your death instead of Voldemort and joined his ranks, lock, stock and bond. Your Aunt Bellatrix became her idol. She Crucio'd Crabbe to insanity for not helping you complete your task. She tried to go after Goyle, but he killed her first. So now Crabbe is in St. Mungo's and Goyle was treated to the Kiss. It happened at Hogwarts; there was more than enough evidence to convict him." She didn't move once while she told him the news of his childhood friends.

He froze in shock for a minute. Crabbe and Goyle had never really been his friends; they had been told to stay by his side by their fathers, who were afraid of his father, but as much as the girl had annoyed him, he had cared for Pansy. He wasn't in love with her the way he knew she was with him, but she was the closest thing he had had to a friend. It was hard to grasp what she had become, but he could see how it was possible. He was sadder for the loss of the girl he had known than for who Hermione said she had become; if it was the case it was probably better for her to not be around. "In that case, I'm sorry that I compared the two of you, I know that is something you would never do." He leaned into her even further, kissing the pulse point underneath her ear.

She turned her face and caught his dry, but no longer horribly cracked, lips with her own soft ones for a light kiss. She said, "Go get ready. We're going shopping."

"Hermione," he sighed.

"Not to New York. I'll glamour both of us and we'll go to Muggle London. You won't get a wand, but you'll at least have some clothes of your own."

He closed his eyes slowly. "I suppose that's alright."

"Good," she told him as she pushed him off of her. "Now go. I need to get dressed, and I'll make some breakfast."

Before they left on their excursion an hour later, Hermione made sure to leave a note in the potions room next to the simmering Wolfsbane, knowing that Snape would be by soon and not wanting to worry him.

They spent the entire day out, having much more fun than Draco had anticipated. He had been in London for a while now but this was the first time he had been clean and semi-respectable looking. Hermione had fun buying him a new wardrobe, even if at least half of her suggestions were vetoed and he had convinced her to buy herself some new things. They talked about almost everything, with Draco telling stories of the time he spent at the Granger's, and Hermione filling him in on everything that had been going on in the wizarding world over the past two years. He had been much more upset to hear of Pansy's downfall than when he was told of the death of his father not less than two weeks previous, having been "accidentally" kissed shortly after Draco's failure in the Astronomy Tower.

When they got home, Hermione took off their glamours and sent Draco up with all the packages to sort out while she went to the kitchen to start dinner. She went into the room only to find a tall, black haired young man eating a sandwich at her table. She smiled at him as he looked up at her and the next thing she knew he was spinning her around the room in a tight hug. When he put her down, it was so that she was sitting on one of the countertops with him standing between her legs. He rested his hands on the junction of her legs so that his thumbs were right at her groin area while the palms of his hands were spread out over the sides of her arse.

When he leaned in to kiss her, she turned her face and asked, "Where's Ron?"

"The Burrow; he'll be here in a few hours. You know Molly would skin him alive if she wasn't the first person to see him back," answered Harry as he nuzzled her neck, nipping at her ear.

She braced her hands against his chest and gently pushed him away from her. "Harry, we can't do this anymore. We talked about it."

"But he doesn't have a clue."

"And it's going to stay that way. We agreed, Harry. It's just better for everyone if this stops."

"It's not better for me. I want you, Hermione, and I know you want me, too."

She sighed as she rested her head where his throat and chest met before pulling away and gently banging her head against the spot like it was a proverbial brick wall. "Harry, you're just listening to your sex drive, not your brain. You are a great friend, and a great lover. You deserve someone who will give you their all. Even if circumstances were different I could never be that person for you. As it is, Ron won't give up his crush on me no matter how much I try and dissuade him. If he found out about us, he would hate you. Sure, he'd eventually get over it, but in the meantime what would you do without him? We're not in Hogwarts anymore, and you need to know you can trust him and count on him. Go find yourself a nice girl to love who will love you back."

"Don't you even think about bringing Ginny into this discussion." Hermione held up her hands in defeat on the subject of Ginny. "Hermione, I'm not looking for anything you aren't willing to give me. I just want you. In your bed, in the shower, on that table, I'm not too particular. Come on, the house is empty, it's just you and me here and we should put the time alone to good use."

At those words her head snapped up and she looked over Harry's shoulder to meet eyes with Draco, who was standing in the doorway to the kitchen at the bottom of the stairs. His face had reverted back to his Malfoy Mask, but she was sure that she looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

Draco cleared his throat as he walked into the room and Hermione's hands flew up to keep Harry looking at her. "Now, Harry, I want you to remember that no one can enter this house without being invited. When you turn around, you are going to see someone that we all thought was dead. But I trust him, and Remus and Severus have accepted him, and I hope you do the same."

Hermione let go of Harry, and he spun around to see who was interrupting him, only to slump back against her. "Malfoy?" he asked.

"Potter," Draco acknowledged as he moved steadily into the kitchen, his eyes fixated upon the two.

"You're not dead?"

"Obviously."

"But ... but ... how?" Harry stuttered.

"I'd rather not talk about it at the moment."

Hermione decided that the mounting tension, though mostly between Draco and herself, was becoming too much, so she pushed Harry forward enough so she could hop off of the counter. She went over to the fridge and started pulling out food to make dinner with. Both Harry and Draco moved towards her to help.

"So Ron's coming here in a few hours? Do you know if he's planning on sleeping here or at the Burrow, because Draco's in your room. If he's staying here, someone will either have to share or stay on the couch."

"I believe he's planning on staying here ... we've got a lot to talk to you about."

"Good or bad?"

"Neither."

She nodded her head, still not facing either man as she went about the kitchen. "Then you three will have to discuss sleeping arrangements amongst yourselves, though I imagine it would make more sense to let Draco stay where he is, and you and Ron double up if we're going to be up late."

Draco was quiet over most of the meal, listening to Harry and Hermione talk amicably, only being drawn into their conversation a couple of times. The majority of the time he spent dwelling upon what he had walked in on earlier. He hadn't heard any of their conversation but their body language told a story of two people who were comfortable with each other on every level.

From the way they had been acting since he had arrived, had he not been privy to that little scene, he would believe they had the same relationship as always, but he _had_ seen it, and now it was nagging him in the pit of his stomach.

Draco had known by the second month he had been with Hermione's parents that he would never see her the same, if he ever actually saw her again. He may have been the rich pureblood while he had always believed her to be a poor (as all Muggles were poor) Mudblood; what he learned was that she had grown up with everything he never had. Two parents, who supported her in everything she did and were proud of her no matter what she chose to do. They may not have had the money he did growing up, but they were never lacking for anything.

By the time they had died, he had heard so many stories of her growing up that he felt like he really knew her, despite the fact that he had never really said a nice word to her once in his life. He had found a couple of her old diaries and after a couple weeks of internal fighting had read them. They were from the first five years at Hogwarts, as well as a couple of years before she found out that she was a witch. He had never realized how much he hurt her when he called her a Mudblood, or when so many others made fun of her as a know-it-all. He had started to feel compassion for her and ended up caring for her. It was more in an abstract sort of way, like how one cares about the well-being of an acquaintance; you don't want anything to happen to them and you'll be sad if it does, but you'll get over it fast enough.

But then he had met her again, only two days before. She was just like her parents, so warm and inviting, when given no reason to be nice to him. He had felt immediately at ease with her and opened his soul to her. It had felt good to get all of his emotions out. He really had been shocked at her reaction to him telling her of her parents, and it endeared her to him even more. After years of looking down upon her, and then a couple more years of understanding and compassion, he now found that in two days he wanted her. He wanted to be there for her, he wanted to hold her, to kiss her, to have intelligent conversations with her the way he could no one else, barring Severus. He wanted to be the one she went to when she was upset, to be the one she went to when she was happy. He wanted to be hers as he wanted for her to be his.

And now there was Potter to contend with.

Suddenly there was a hand in front of his face, fingers snapping. "Draco?" Hermione's concerned voice questioned.

"Hmmm?" he asked, being pulled away from his thought train.

"We're going to go to the lounge and watch the telly. Do you want to come?"

"Sure, let me just clean up my plate."

Harry's face registered shock. First he found out that Malfoy was alive, and then for the man to help make dinner and clean up his dishes? He was living in bizarro world. He must be having a dream; a dream in which Hermione turns him down and Malfoy shows up from the dead. Okay, so it wasn't a dream.

He went into the lounge, where Hermione had chosen to sit in a chair. He assumed it was so she wouldn't have to sit next to him, not that he would try and make any advances on her with Malfoy in the room. Though, he didn't know when Malfoy had come into the kitchen, so there could be trouble there if the blond still had issues with him. It wouldn't do to have him go and blab to Ron. He would have to have a talk with him about it. But if he did, and Malfoy knew nothing, he sure as hell would then. So he would leave it to Hermione to control. Over lunch Hermione had told him, with a small amount of help from Malfoy, how she had come across him and taken him in. When Harry had asked where the scar came from the other man had sidestepped the question. Harry shook his head, trying to get his thoughts to stop and instead focused on the screen on front of him.

When Draco entered the room, he looked around and opted to sit in the chair opposite Hermione. And so the three sat watching the television set in front of them, awaiting Ron's arrival.


	5. Chapter 5

Warning... so I lied at the beginning.. there's some... we'll go with limes, at the end, and Hermione isn't with Draco in it (it's the memory, lol)... But this IS a Dramione.. if it weren't I wouldn't have put it in that category.

Chapter 5Memories and Horcri

Ron Apparated into the lounge, only to faint at the sight of Draco. When he came to, he found Hermione laughing at him. "Ron, is that how you react to everything that shocks you? Because I really, really hope not." Ron smiled at her as he took her outstretched hand and let her help him onto the couch. He then looked over to Harry, who nodded his head as though verifying that Draco Malfoy was indeed alive and in Hermione's lounge.

"Hello, Malfoy. It's nice to see that you're not dead."

To say that Draco was gobsmacked at that would have been an understatement. "Thanks, Weasley," he said in a confused voice.

"Malfoy, I may not have liked you, but that doesn't mean I wanted you dead. Even though you did almost kill me." Here Draco had the grace to blush in embarrassment, but before he could apologize Ron kept talking. "Malfoy, you were being a stubborn git not talking to Snape about what was going on, but I can understand wanting to protect your family."

"Well, then, thanks again." In response, Ron shrugged his shoulders to show that it was no big deal, and to him it wasn't. He had gotten over it a long time ago; right around when Percy was killed as a Death Eater even while he was protecting Ron from being killed in the skirmish.

After a little while Draco excused himself for the night to leave the trio for their talk. "So, you're sure that he's on our side?" Ron asked quietly.

"Yes," answered Hermione firmly. "He has just as much reason as the rest of us to hate Voldemort, and no, I'm not telling you why. Besides, he only seems to refer to Voldemort as a Bastard of some sort."

At that, Harry started laughing heartily. Hermione looked at him and shook her head while giving him a look that she thought he was odd. Ron gave a slight chuckle; after all, laughter is contagious. "I wonder if Malfoy knows that Voldemort really is a bastard," Harry explained as his laughter subsided, causing Hermione to smile.

"So, did you two find anything out?" she asked, turning the conversation serious.

The trio had gone back to school for their final year with an unlimited restricted section pass from Headmistress McGonagall. They spent as much time as they could in the library, trying to learn everything possible about the four founders. Otherwise, their time was spent on studies or going through the pensieve memories that Dumbledore had left to Harry in his will.

They had found two of the Horcruxes while they were still in school; Hufflepuff's cup had been in the Chamber of Secrets, and they had found Slytherin's locket at Grimmauld Place in Kreacher's nest when they had gone there over the Easter holiday for the specific purpose of looking for it. Molly had been upset, and tried to forbid them and make them come to the Burrow instead; but since they were all of age there was nothing she could do except let the Order know of their decision. It had taken them (mostly Hermione) the better part of the year destroying the tainted objects without causing them bodily harm like Dumbledore's blackened hand. As it was, they had gone to the Chamber on three separate occasions once they actually found the cup before they figured how to get around the precautions that surrounded it.

In their research of Voldemort, mostly through Dumbledore's pensieve of Death Eaters under Veriteserum, they had learned that during the time he had been missing to do his "academic studies in the Dark Arts", Voldemort had visited many places, but the two he stayed the longest at were Durmstrang, and with an old recluse in Albania. In using that knowledge, coupled with the fact that the man liked to keep his Horcruxes in places that had significance to him, Harry and Ron had searched Durmstrang high and low, via Polyjuice, Disillusionment Charms, or under Invisibility Cloaks. By the time they had to go there, Ron was grateful for Hermione's continued friendship with Viktor Krum, as he had left professional quidditch after a nasty break that refused to heal properly and became a local coach who helped out at his alma mater, and was easily able to sneak them into the school. It was in the bowels of the small and dank castle of Durmstrang that the two young men had found Ravenclaw's wand, calling on Dobby or Kreacher to bring them food, drink, books, and Hermione until they knew exactly how to get safely around the barriers. It took them two full days and then another three days to properly destroy the Horcrux.

Ron and Harry's mission was to find out what Voldemort could have found of Gryffindor's to use as a Horcrux. They knew for absolute certainty that it wasn't the sword that sat in the headmistress' office, as they had done many tests on it to be sure. They had given up on that this past time out and had instead decided to go to any place that they thought may have held meaning for Voldemort, or more specifically, places they thought Voldemort may have thought held significance for Godric Gryffindor, and searched high and low once they were there.

Hermione was set to figure out how to get rid of Nagini; she had a feeling that it would take a different potion and set of circumstances to get rid of a Horcrux that was inside of a living body. Just killing the snake would do no good, as the soul would be freed and would probably be drawn to the nearest object or being that held the most power. They had to destroy the soul while it was still within the snake. She had a suspicion of the simplest way to do it; she just didn't think it would be at all easy.

"We didn't find a thing," answered Ron in a complaint.

"We checked pretty much everywhere we could think of that had anything to do with Gryffindor in hopes that Voldemort would have left the Horcrux in one of Gryffindor's places. Most of the places we were at for less than a day since they were too out in the open, but there were a couple that seemed secluded enough but we couldn't find anything, even with the blood magic."

"Do you know where you're going next?"

"Thought maybe we'd go through the pensieve again and hope we missed something."

"We've been through them a hundred times," Ron groaned.

"Yes, but every time we do we have a new idea of what we're not looking for, so it should be easier to find what we are."

"That's horrible logic, Hermione."

"Just because you don't want to look again."

Ron grumbled under his breath in response.

Changing the topic to divert a fight, Harry asked, "So, what have you figured out while we were gone, Hermione?"

Hermione looked at the two wearily. "There are a couple of different ways to go about getting rid of Nagini's Horcrux. One is simple, but definitely not easy, and the other is damned near impossible."

"What's the first?"

"We find a way to convince at least one dementor to help us, and get it to take Voldemort's soul. I don't even think we'd need to kill her, so long as we can deal with a soulless snake, assuming that snakes even have souls, since I'm sure the dementor would take both. It's simple, but not easy."

Both Harry and Ron had shuddered at the first mention of dementors, but Harry gave a profound wince. "And the second?" asked Ron with trepidation.

"There's a ritual. But we'd have to get Nagini away from Voldemort on a full moon so we can take her to a henge, any henge will do, so long as it's not complete rubble and still maintains it's magic. When we're there, we'd have to cut her open while chanting this extremely long and complicated spell while pouring a really complex potion over her guts. We would also need help because the spell requires four people."

Complete silence followed her explanation for several long minutes. Finally, Harry spoke. "Dementors it is, then."

For the next couple of hours the trio talked of what happened while they had been apart, though Hermione refused to tell them any of Draco's story, saying that it wasn't hers to tell, unless given permission.

After Ron had fallen asleep, Harry got out of his Transfigured bed and silently crept out of the room and down the hall. He opened up a door and entered the room to find what could only be described as a sleeping angel. Though, it could be said that any time he looked at Hermione he would describe her as an angel. He stood there for a few minutes just staring at her before he moved over to the bed.

She woke up when she felt the depression in the mattress from his weight. "Go away," she mumbled, mostly asleep, her eyes still closed.

Instead of complying with her request, he leaned over and kissed her jawbone where it connected an inch or so below her ear. Her eyes flew open as she automatically reached out to push the intruder away.

"Harry!" she gasped, "You scared the living hell out of me!"

"I'm sorry," he apologized as he leaned in for a kiss.

As she had earlier, she pulled away from the kiss. "Harry, I told you we have to stop this."

"Hermione, you've said that on at least five occasions and I distinctly remember you fucking my brains out after four of them."

"That's just because I was weak. I'm not going to be weak anymore," she told him firmly, now completely awake.

"You are not weak. But me on the other hand, every time I look at you I go weak in the knees." He moved in again to try for that kiss. Every other time he had said something along those lines she had given in and he didn't expect this time to be any different.

But different it was, and her hands came between them to serve as a barrier. "Harry, no. I mean it this time. This has to stop. There is no romantic future between us. I want us to be friends until we're old and grey; I want our children to play together and go to school together, maybe even marry each other. Most of all, I want to survive this war with all of my friends in tact. I want you and Ron to stay friends just as long as you and me. But the longer the two of us do this," she motioned between the two of them with her hands, "the less likely it is that all of that will happen and losing you would break my heart, just like losing Ron would break my heart." Her voice was soft, but to him, her words were harsh.

"So you really mean it this time," Harry stated dejectedly.

"Yes, I do," she answered in a voice so soft it was practically a whisper.

"Okay, then," he responded, holding her hand in his and bringing it to his lips.

When he arrived back in the room he was sharing with Ron he crept back into the bed and cocooned himself in the quilt. He covered his entire body from head to toe and then put a Silencing Charm around him. He cried quietly as he thought back, remembering everything about Hermione.

_It was Harry's nineteenth birthday. A party had been thrown for him at Grimmauld Place. They ate a wonderful dinner cooked by Molly and he opened presents. Soon after, all of the "adults" left the younger ones to have their own party. Fred and George supplied the entertainment while Ron, Hermione, and Ginny supplied the booze. Four hours later, the entire lot of them were beyond pissed and somehow Harry found himself the meat in a Hermione and Ginny sandwich for a fast song that came on the Wireless as Ginny's brothers encouraged them on. He knew that he was expected to return Ginny's feelings, and for a while he had. It was just that once he had broken up with her after Dumbledore's death, and he was away from her for awhile, simply put, he got over her. Recently he had taken to admiring Hermione from not-so-afar. He just didn't feel right at giving away this new fascination, knowing all about Ron's unrequited crush on the brunette, but something about her was irresistible._

_To this day he wasn't exactly sure how she ended up naked in his bed that night, or how no one else seemed aware of it, but there she was. It was the first time for both of them and in their drunken haze they didn't exactly make it the most special of times, but at least Hermione still had the presence of mind to remember the Contraception Charm. Harry was quick and it was messy but he did eventually get her off with the fumbling of his fingers and a little help from her. The next morning they both woke up early, naked and in each others arms. It was beyond awkward and they each covered themselves up with a sheet as they stared at one another. Hermione picked up her clothes and put them on, never leaving the safety of the sheet until she was completely dressed. She hesitated for a moment before walking over to Harry and kissing him gently on the lips. She then left the room, neither having said a single word._

_Nothing was said about it and both acted like it had never happened, Harry taking his cue from Hermione. A week later the trio was at Hermione's house, going over plans for the next bout of Horcrux hunting. Harry and Ron were going to go to Albania while Hermione visited the public libraries for information on the founders that may not have been in Hogwarts. Ron left to stay at the Burrow for the night, under orders from his mother. It was the first time they had been alone together all week, though neither had been avoiding such an occurrence._

_They were sitting there watching a movie on the telly when Hermione scooted the short distance over to where Harry was seated beside her and leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder. He didn't know how she got on his lap, if she had sat there or if he had pulled her there, but it didn't really matter. Soon enough his hand was under her shirt, playing with her breasts over her bra while she was slightly twisted so as to put effort into the hickey that was forming on his neck. Time for him had seemed to both speed up and slow down and the next thing he knew Hermione was naked and he was shimmying out of his pants. _

_She had pushed him so that he was sitting back on the couch again and he had half fallen into place. She straddled his legs as she moved in for a deep kiss. Her hand wrapped itself around his shaft and she tentatively gave him a few pumps, waiting out his reaction before she slightly picked up the pace. When she started rubbing the head of his penis along the inside of her folds, covering him in her juices, he couldn't remember a time he had ever felt so lost in another person. When she sat on his cock, slowly letting it in deeper and deeper until he was completely buried in her, he was in pure heaven and that was the moment she became his angel. They spent the majority of the night exploring each others bodies with mouths, tongues, and hands, learning every nuance of the other._

_Over the next three months they fucked like rabbits every time they found themselves alone, christening every room in her house and even a few of the rooms at Grimmauld Place. It was on Halloween that Hermione first tried to break it off, but between her lust, his lust, and the words he said to her that melted her like butter, she gave in to him. In the following months she protested every time they were together, saying how it was wrong what they were doing, and how so many people would be hurt, but each and every time found her willingly surrounding his cock with her mouth or her pussy in search of ecstasy, until tonight._

He had finished crying a while ago, but he was still rather depressed as he was falling asleep. Suddenly he jolted awake, sitting up in the bed. What was the difference between this time and all the others? "Malfoy," he said darkly, glowering into the dark. This time as he started to drift off, it was to the thought of watching the blond, especially around Hermione. If he was going to lose her, it wasn't going to be to him. And in one minute, the rivalry of old was rekindled on one part, the other not having a clue.

*It would seem obvious that I listen to Pottercast and have borrowed some of their ideas, now wouldn't it?


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6Draco, Severus, and Harry

The next morning, Harry and Ron woke up late to find Hermione and Draco sitting at the table, eating breakfast and discussing what potions they may want to brew to have around. As he went over to grab himself a plate, Harry covertly watched the two and tried to see if their body language would give anything away about their relationship. Ron was oblivious to anything that wasn't the food he was piling on his plate in heaps.

Hermione and Draco continued their conversation after their 'good mornings' to Ron and Harry. At one point, Harry had asked if they would like any help in their brewing. Both Ron and Hermione looked at him as if he had suddenly grown another head and Draco's lips started to quirk upward.

"Harry, are you alright?" Hermione asked, putting her hand to his forehead. "You know that neither you nor Ron can brew most of the potions needed, as they're complicated, and I don't want my house to blow up."

"Just thought I'd ask," Harry said indignantly. By this time, Draco was having an extremely hard time controlling his laughter.

"Well, then, thank you, Harry, but between Draco, Severus and myself, I think we have the potion making well in hand."

"Besides, mate, why would you want to anyway? You hate potions as much as I do. We could play a game of wizard's chess or something instead, it would be much more relaxing," Ron said with his mouth full of food.

~~*~~*~~

As Hermione and Draco were brewing their potions that morning, neither spoke much, as each were lost in their own thoughts. Hermione's thoughts were scrambled between Horcruxes, Harry, Draco, the state of the war and the potion in front of her.

Draco, on the other hand, had a more focused mind. The previous night when he had left the three friends alone he had gone to his room and read some. After sleeping on the streets for so long, he had become a light sleeper. The first couple of nights here he had slept deeply, being so tired. Now, though, he seemed to be back in the light sleeping habit, as he was woken in the very early morning by the sound of a door shutting and shuffling in the hallway.

He had cracked open his door to see Potter slip into Hermione's room and was encompassed by a feeling that he disgustedly recognized as jealousy. While he was conscious that he was attracted to Hermione, he still didn't want to feel jealous of anyone. He was particularly miffed that it was Saint Potter who evoked the feeling. He had known that it was perverted and voyeuristic of him, but at the moment he hadn't cared. He had wanted verification of his suspicions that Hermione and Potter were sleeping together. So, he had Disallusioned himself and sat outside the door that Potter had left open by just a sliver in his haste to reach the lady of the house.

Draco sat there and listened to the conversation, feeling happier and happier with every word Hermione spoke. Obviously she hadn't been dating Potter, or everyone would know about it, including Weasley. This meant that while she wouldn't technically be on the rebound, she still may need a caring person around. Particularly, a caring person who knew what was going on, and if the day's spectacle had done anything, it made him sure that she knew he had guessed the true nature of her relationship with Harry.

Having gotten to know her through the stories of her parents and hanging out with her the past few days, he was aware that if he schemed to be the object of her affections and she found out, it would all end badly for him. So instead, he would just make himself available to her. It was a good thing that he had the ability to be patient -- at least when it came to the important things.

Draco was also wondering if Harry had yet to realize that he was a rival. He had a feeling that the answer to that question was a resounding 'yes,' based on the glares he received throughout breakfast, as well as the offer to help with potions. Now i_that_/i had been laughable. But really, what could he say? Potter never had been one for subtlety.

He was torn away from his musings as the door to the room opened up and Severus came in, just as he was finishing up the Blood Replenishing Potion he was working on. Seeing his Godfather made him realize that while he had given away his life story, he had heard nothing of Severus being anything less than a perfect Death Eater.

"Hey, Severus," Draco started.

"Yes, Draco?" he answered.

"You were going to tell me all about you not being a Death Eater."

"Was I?" Severus responded, glancing momentarily in Hermione's direction.

"Severus, if you don't want me to hear whatever it is, you can just say so," the woman in question huffed.

"In that case, Hermione, what I have to tell Draco is for his ears only. Is there anywhere that we can go for privacy since I noticed Potter and Weasley have returned?" While his voice was the picture of decorum the sneer on his face belied his feelings about Harry and Ron's presence. While Snape had come to less glacial terms with the former a long time ago, the two were still on less than friendly terms. Most of the time Snape and Harry were cordial to each other, neither looking to bait the other into a fight, but most of the time, tolerating was the best they got.

"Ummmm, your best bet would probably be either Draco's or my room, or the infirmary. Unless you want to wait until I'm done with this potion and talk in here. It will only take another ten minutes or so."

"In that case, we will wait." And so they did, talking about current events and which pureblood married which pureblood and who gave birth and whatnot. When Hermione had learned that Severus was something of a gossip whore she was beyond shocked, but now it was just an endearing quirk about him that made him more human in her eyes.

Hermione stopped up the last bottle she had filled with her Calming Draught. When she had placed them onto the proper spot on the shelf she moved over to the only painting in the room; a simmering cauldron filled with a silvery pink substance. After asking Draco and Severus to move to the other side of the room so they couldn't see what she was doing, she whispered the password to open the painting from the wall before she opened the Muggle safe that had been expanded with magic. It was top of the line; it only opened up by Hermione's handprint, a six-digit code, and voice recognition of her singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

"What the fuck is that, Granger?" Draco asked, slipping into his former habit of calling her by her last name.

"This, Draco, is my safe." She then proceeded to pull out ten small vials, placing them into her pockets, each held safe with an Unbreakable Charm. The charm wouldn't stop leaks, but the vials were all corked off properly.

"That is a complicated safe you've got there."

"I have extremely important items kept in this safe that would be a disaster in the wrong hands."

"And what are you taking out of it now?"

"Memories. When did you get so inquisitive, Draco?" she responded as she closed the safe and turned to face the two men on the opposite side of the room.

"I don't know. That's just a really weird safe."

"It's Muggle precautions. All of which are keyed to only me."

"Wouldn't that be easy to get around if someone were trying to open it without permission?"

"Only if they were smart enough to use other Muggle devices to obtain what is needed from me. And quite frankly, while I would never want to underestimate the enemy, most Death Eaters wouldn't even think of Muggle technology, never mind know how to get around it, since I have also placed very strong wards on it so as to not be able to be opened with magic."

"You?"

"Well, with help from Severus, Harry, and Minerva."

"Ah," he said in understanding, a small smirk gracing his features.

"Shut up," she told him, playfully smacking the back of his head as she left the room, Draco's eyes firmly glued to her backside. He snapped back to reality when Severus cleared his throat after Hermione had closed the door. He turned his head and looked sheepishly at the older man, who was shaking his head and repressing his laughter.

"What?" Draco asked.

"I just never thought I would live to see the day when Draco Malfoy lusted after Hermione Granger."

"So, Severus, when did you turn on the Great Bastard?"

Severus decided to allow his sidestep and chose to answer the question rather than press upon his previous observation. He motioned for them to sit on the stools that were situated against the wall in a little nook that was created by the separation of bookcase to make room for a magical window. Draco had never considered the presence of windows in this room before, forgetting that the wall was shared with the next townhouse over.

And so Severus started to tell a story for the very first time to another person. "When I attended Hogwarts, I was something of an outcast, but the main group who went out of their way to make my life hell was James Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and Remus Lupin. But there were two people who went out of their way to befriend me – one was your father, the other, Lily Evans.

"She was a very good friend to me, despite the fact that I wasn't willing to openly acknowledge our friendship. She was, after all, a Gryffindor and a Muggle-born. But, she was excellent at potions. She could feel the reasons behind the ingredients, and understand the difference between something being ground or finely ground ..." Severus' voice trailed away slightly as he remembered the skills of his friend before he came out of his reverie, his voice now hardening slightly.

"One would have hoped that she would pass her skills on, but that insufferable child of hers has absolutely no skills whatsoever. We had to ban him from this lab so he wouldn't blow up the place." By the time he was finished, his face had formed the normal sneer that arose whenever he so much as thought about Harry Potter.

"One day in fifth year, Potter decided he was bored and therefore the only thing to possibly amuse him would be to humiliate me, and Lily tried to help me. I wouldn't let her, and in the process, called her a Mudblood. After that, she refused to speak to me. Eventually she wore down just enough to have cordial conversations about the task at hand during class if we were partnered together, but that was it.

"When she started dating him, I saw it as the ultimate betrayal of the friendship we had once shared despite that fact that as far as she was concerned, that friendship had ended long before she was with Potter. Apparently your father had known of our friendship, because although he was no longer in school by then, he had made sure to keep abreast of all the news at Hogwarts. By this time, he was already a Death Eater and was able to convince me that Lily was no more than a Mudblood, and what could one expect from someone like that? Eventually, with the guidance and friendship of Lucius, I joined the ranks of the Death Eaters in earnest after I graduated.

"Not too soon after, I was walking by the Hog's Head when the door opened and I heard the beginning of a prophecy that said someone would be born with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord. I was kicked out before I could hear the end of it, and I went directly to him to tell him what I had overheard. Since the person the prophecy had been made to was Albus, I was to secure a post as a professor at Hogwart's. I applied for the Defense job, but was turned down and given Potions since Slughorn had decided to retire."

"Albus had known that I was a Death Eater and had hired me in hopes that I would change my loyalties and I suspected such, but I had no intention of turning from the Dark Lord. But then the first provisions of the prophecy had been fulfilled, with two toddlers to choose from as the threat. I did not know why then and I do not know why now, but the Dark Lord saw Potter as more of a threat than Longbottom."

When Draco couldn't hold in a stifled laugh at the thought of Neville being any type of threat, his godfather gave him an icy glare. "Draco, do not presume to know anything about Longbottom. From what I understand he was a formidable opponent while still in Hogwarts, and is more than such today. He has been an asset to the Order and to the war against the Dark Lord."

Before Draco could say anything in response, Severus continued. "When I learned of the Dark Lord's plans for the Potter's, something in me snapped. All of the feelings I had had for Lily resurfaced, no, none of them were romantic, so wipe that smirk off you face, Draco, and I knew that as much as Harry was James' son, he was also Lily's, and I didn't want the child to die. Technically, I didn't really want Longbottom to die either. Harming and killing children has never sat quite right with me, but it's one of those things that you get over if you want to stay alive as a Death Eater.

"So, I went to Albus and laid out the situation. I wanted to defect from the Dark Lord despite the fact that I knew that it would be akin to signing my own death warrant. Albus would not let me and instead convinced me to turn spy for him. I was already well accomplished at Occlumency as there were some things that I had been hiding from the Dark Lord that would have at least gotten me a few rounds of Crucio, so I knew that if necessary I could fool him and worked to fortify my barriers and school my emotions even more than most Slytherins are taught."

"With my information, the Potters' went into hiding under the Fidelius Charm." At this point, Draco's face lit up with recognition, thinking back to Hermione saying that Harry's parents died because of the betrayal of their secret-keeper. "Everyone assumed that their secret-keeper was Black, as he was Potter's best friend. Apparently, though, Black had considered that everyone would assume it was him and so convinced them to have Pettigrew as the secret-keeper. Pettigrew had been a mole for the Dark Lord for quite some time and told him their whereabouts right away."

"After a few months, when the Potters would have been feeling secure in their hiding, the Dark Lord decided to strike, and since I was the one who gave him the information that led to it in the first place, I was invited to go along with him. As you well know, it is not something that you can just say no to, and I was given less than two minutes notice, so I couldn't warn anyone."

"Pettigrew told me the address and the Dark Lord, Lucius, and I went to Godric's Hollow. Pettigrew was too much of a coward to come with us and face his friend. When we got there, James threw up a big fight, but was no match for the Dark Lord. Lucius and I were not to help in any way. We were there to be witnesses that the only threat to the Dark Lord's impending reign was gone. As much as I had hated Potter, and I was not upset at his death, I did not feel any happiness over it. Then he moved on to the nursery where Lily was standing in front of the crib. After the Dark Lord told her that she did not have to die, which was a gift to me that he intended on making me pay for long after from what I have gathered, I pleaded with her to just step aside, but like any other good mother, she would not. And so he killed her."

"Once she had fallen, the Dark Lord gave Lucius a sword to hold and drank down a potion that looked like it had caused him pain before performing a complicated spell that I had never heard before. Once he was finished, he pointed his wand and cast the Killing Curse on Harry. It rebounded off of his forehead and hit the Dark Lord. Instead of just slumping to the ground as normal, his body exploded, taking a large portion of the house with it."

"Lucius and I had quickly put Shielding Charms around ourselves, but before Harry had been able to instinctively get his own up, a ball of white light that had appeared from the Dark Lord's body as he imploded crossed the room and seemed to fly into where Harry's head was bleeding from the rebound of the Avada Kedavra."

From this information, Draco was feeling a myriad of things, ranging from shock and curiosity to disgust at the pieces of Voldemort that would have been hanging around, attached to the debris of the house. "Have you ever told anyone about this?"

"Only Dumbledore, and now, you."

Draco nodded his head with a thoughtful look on his face before he posed his next question. "Do you know why he had a sword with him, or why he did the weird spell?"

"No, but your father seemed to. But as I was saying, Lucius dropped the sword in the explosion and he and I Apparated out just as Harry's shield surrounded him. Apparently the next day, Albus had Hagrid bring him to his Muggle relatives, who raised him.

"Most of us thought that the Dark Lord was dead. Especially myself, as I had seen the whole thing with my own eyes, so I stayed at Hogwarts, having nothing else to go to. I never understood why, but your father was less than convinced of the Dark Lord's death. When you were in your fourth year and the Dark Lord came back with the help of Wormtail, I went back to being a spy for the Order."

"As you know, when you were given your mission, I made an Unbreakable Vow to your mother to help you, and finish your job if you couldn't. At the first opportunity I told Albus everything, so he had known throughout the entire school year what you were up to. He was already dying a slow death due to the poisons that killed his arm, and so he made me promise that if I could, I would kill him and save you from that fate. And so that's what happened that night. I didn't want to do it, but I had promised and that way you wouldn't have been forced to do it yourself."

"After you had been put in the dungeons, I stayed at Spinner's End where I received a most unusual owl. It was from Potter. It seemed that he had inherited Albus' pensieve as well as the memories he had stored. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if the memories Hermione took out of her safe were his. One of the memories showed the meeting where he and I spoke of your situation and he asked me to kill him. Because of that, the Order realized that I was following orders and accepted me back. At which point, I had to tell the Dark Lord about it all. He then went on and on about how stupid and trusting Dumbledore and the Order are, accepting his spy right back into the fold after killing their leader. And that about leads us to where we are now."

"So, for my entire life, you've always acted as though you agree with almost everything that Father ever said, but in reality, you didn't agree with him?"

"There are many things that I agreed with you father about, Draco, but there more things that I didn't. The key to being a good spy is to let everyone see in you what they want to see and not give them reason to doubt that image. That is what I did with your father."

"I think I understand, though it would have helped me so much if I knew all of this before."

"Yes, but I wasn't sure that I could trust you with it then. For all I knew, you would go straight to Lucius and I would be as good as dead."

"I know why you couldn't tell me, Severus; it just sucks."

~~*~~*~~

A week had passed since Draco and Severus' talk. After reviewing the pensieve memories again, they decided on a few more locations to look for the horcrux and the time had come for Ron and Harry to be on their way and resume the search. Hermione had started to try and figure out how to get a rogue dementor to help them, but so far to no avail.

Hermione continued to turn down the few moves Harry made in hopes that she had changed her mind. Instead, he watched as Hermione and Draco slowly got closer and closer to one another. Truth be told, on one hand he wanted nothing more than to leave and get them out of his sight, while on the other he wanted to stay and to continue and try to thwart any time that the two would be left alone. While Draco had picked up right away what he was doing, Hermione was still oblivious.

The girl was a genius, but she just wasn't self-confident enough to believe that men would be interested in her. She had originally whole-heartedly believed that the only reason anything had happened between the two of them was the alcohol. Of course, it had played a part, but Harry had wanted her for some time beforehand and just hadn't acted upon it. This was a fact which took quite some time to drill into her head.

Over the previous day, Hermione had become slightly melancholy, the way she always did when they were about to leave. Another part of her ritual of them going on their searches was that in order to have a focus with her mood, she would cast a spell at almost everything. It was always the same spell, a complicated diagnostic spell, and it made everything she hit with it becomes surrounded with a light blue light to show a negative result. This time, though, she started to cast the spell upon people as well.

After she had hugged both Ron and Harry good-bye, Harry's hug slightly more possessive, and pulled away, she decided to cast the spell on the group of people as the two each shook Draco's hand, as well as Snape's and hugged Remus. Draco and Ron each glowed in the light blue light, rolling their eyes to each other as they saw their auras. The spell hit Harry just as he Apparated out of the room, surrounded by a distinctly while light.


End file.
